Bracket for surveying instruments.



No. 6%,045 Patented Dec. 3|, mm. c. L. BERGER.

BRACKET FflR SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS.

(Application filed Apr. 16, 1900.

(No Model.)

, fnvenvr Chnigfflaw 12. 196796 61 MM? N Urn STATES Enron,

CHRISTIAN L. BERGER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

BRACKET FOR SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 690,045, dated December 31, 1901.

Application filed April 16, 1900. Serial No. 18,115. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN L. BERGER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Brackets for Surveying Instruments, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

Myinvention is primarily intended for use with surveying instrumentssuch as transits, levels, &c.and is of especial ad vantage in accommodating these instruments to use in difficult places where an ordinary tripod cannot be employed-such, for instance, as in vertical shafts or abrupt rises of rock or adjacent to walls of any description.

It is often desirable and sometimes necessary to make extrem sly-accurate observations with surveying instruments in places where the ordinary tripod cannot be set up, and in such cases heretofore the surveyer has been obliged to erect staging or employ other cumbrous appliances of an equivalent nature. Accordingly I have provided a standard or horizontal support capable of receiving any of the usual surveyinginstruments and enabling them to be used with extreme accuracy and without any more liability of error than if used in the ordinary manner with a tripod placed solidly upon the ground, my invention consisting, in general terms, of a support, preferably extensible, having means for rigidly securing it in the rock, timber, or other wall at one end, and at its other end provided with means, preferably adjustable, for receiving the instrument.

The details of construction and further advantages of myinvention will be pointed out more fully in the course of the following de scription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention, and the latter will be more particularly defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents my invention in side elevation, a portion of an instrument being in place thereon, parts being broken away for clearness of illustration and also a portion of an adjacent wall being shown in sect-ion. Fig. 2 is an enlarged end elevation of a portion of the right-hand end of the instrument viewing Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an end elevation, partly in section, of one of the ad justable clamping devices or strut-carriers.

I am aware that surveying instruments have been used heretofore in the same situations in vertical shafts, due, as it is my purpose to provide for; but I am not aware that heretofore there has ever been provided as an adjunct for a surveying instrument a horizontal support therefor capable of accurate adjustment, as hereinafter more fully explained.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that I provide a rigid member on, herein shown as tubular and having at its inner end a threaded portion (1, preferably tapering in order that it may more readily enter a rock, this body portion a carrying an extensible part a herein shown as arranged telescopically and being cylindrical to fit the cavityand the portion a, and preferably it is also tubular to receive a shank a of a bracket end or head a. The extensible portions ot a are provided with wing-nuts or other clamping devices a a for the purpose of rigidly fastening the parts in desired adjustment. The body portion a carries one or more sleeves b b, suitably clamped in position by wing-nuts at any place along said body portion and each carrying legs or struts b I), each also having, preferably, extensible leg portions b in order to accommodate them to uneven surfaces and the various requirements of use, these legs also being capable of being stretched or contracted, as will be evident viewing Fig. 3, where one form of construction is shown, in which the inner ends of the legs or struts are shown as dish-shaped at b and having an enlarged recess If, so as to be capable of more or less universal movement relativelyvto the central clamping-bolt 17 being held in place by convex washers b, clamped by wingnuts I).

From the foregoing description it will be evident that the support may be securely fastened in the wall and extended to the length required in order to bring the instrument roughly into the required range, it being understood that the ordinary side adjustments of the instrument will be depended on for obtaining the accurate nicety of range required for the technical work, and then the support is braced rigidly by means of the legs 5 b so thatsaid instrument is not capable of deviation,notwithstanding its unusual position, which heretofore has been considered ordinarily unreliable.

A hole a is provided in the support ato receive a drill-handle or any convenient tool for turning the support and screwing the same into the rock or timber. At its outer end, as already mentioned, the support carries an L- shaped bracket or, whose horizontal ledge a is bifurcated, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, the two parts thereof being separated or having an opening between them of sufficientwidth to receive a large threaded bolt or adjustable upright supportc, loosely mounted therein and held in adjustable position by upper and lower nuts 0 0 At its upper end the vertical support 0 has a threaded flange c and a shoulder 0 adapted to receive accurately the base-plate of any ordinary surveying instrument.

This instrument has in practice been found to be extremely accurate and of great service in practicalsurveying. It will be understood that when once set up in position, substantially as shown in Fig. 1, the instrument proper may be raised or lowered quickly and with'approximate accuracy by means of the adjusting-nuts c c and rigidly fastened in said vertical adjustment, and thereafter the finer vertical adjustments of the instrument may be had by the delicate adjustments provided for the purpose in the, instrument itself. Likewise the head a may be adjusted axially on the main support by means of the set-screw a, and it may be adjusted in and Out by means of the set-screw a while the L shape thereof tends to counterbalance the instrument and prevent its accidental tipping over, as well as providing the many other practical advantages unnecessary to set forth at length herein.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1; The herein-described horizontal support for surveying instruments, comprising a body portion having means for securing the same rigidly in fixed position to a vertical wall, an instrument-receiving portion, and a vertical hollow post detachably mounted in the latter, and a clamping device on said post for adjusting said instrument relatively to said body portion, the top of said post having means for receiving the instrument thereon.

2. In a horizontal support for surveying instruments, a headpiece having a horizontal ledge provided with a space for receiving loosely a vertical threaded support, said threaded support, and adjusting devices mounted on said threaded support above said ledge for vertically adjusting said support relatively to said ledge, said support having at itsupper end means for detachably receiving the surveying instrument.

3. In ahorizontal support for surveying instruments, a body portion provided with means of attachment to a vertical Wall and having at its outer end means for receiving a surveying instrumentin upright position, and an adjustable collar mounted on said body portion and provided with separable supporting-legs.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHRISTIAN L. BERGER.

\Vitnesses:

GEO. H. MAXWELL, EDITH M. STODDARD. 

